Fever Pitch

There is a line in the Nick Hornby book, 'Fever Pitch', where the author espouses the theory that his relationship with Arsenal was such that the performance of the team was inextricably linked to the way his life was going at any one time. Hornby questioned whether life was shit because Arsenal was shit, or the other way around.

Substitute 'Arsenal' for 'gambling performance', and that is currently how I feel. I don't want to come across as some melodramatic drama queen, but life is hell-bent on throwing forward a few challenges to overcome at the moment. My wife last week, my Dad this, it would appear. I find myself wondering if these challenges would appear so difficult to conquer if the gambling was going well. Would my wife have had a flare up in her eyes last week if I'd been on a winning run? It is a ridiculous notion to consider, even if only semi-seriously, but it does seem that April is to be a difficult month in every respect, and not just those aspects revolving around the betting.

I wasn't going to do a post tonight. I found out earlier this evening that my Dad had been admitted to hospital with the suspicion that he had suffered a stroke. He lives in Ludlow, I live about 100 miles north near Manchester. I'm extremely close to my Dad and I'm torn apart when my mother tells me that he is quite naturally frightened, confused, and at nearly 80, in awe of an acute realisation as to his own mortality. Obviously, I have to get down there, and will be travelling tomorrow.

So why am I blogging at all? This isn't like last week's brief hiatus when I knew that my wife would be fine after the drugs she was prescribed had a chance to kick in. That was more simply taking a couple of nights off so that I could do what she usually does each evening, thus helping her recuperate more quickly and to make Helen's life that little bit easier. This is more serious; this is the sort of thing that as an adult, you know you are going to have to deal with at some point, but dread nonetheless. But when I started this blog, my intention was to show how an ordinary, working bloke with a young family and a full time job, could make a go of making some decent money out of gambling. It was to demonstrate the emotions encountered, the practicalities to address, and the basics needed to do the job. So now that things are getting a little tricky, should it stop? To my mind, if it did, it would kinda defeat the object.

I hope you don't mind me writing so personally, and I am a little embarassed to do so; as I said before, I questioned whether I should post at all. But as I declared at the very beginning of this blog back in January, the intention was for it to be a full account of running a portfolio, warts and all, through good times and bad.

So the blog will continue, perhaps simply out of bloody-mindedness. But I am going to have to adapt it a little. It is simply going to prove to be impossible to post every evening. Tomorrow night, for instance, I will be driving down to Shropshire and when I get there, I imagine my Mum would be a little upset if my attention was given over to a laptop. What I intend to do is post whenever I can, and give an idea as to when I might be able to post next. The results reporting will have to alter slightly too. I will consider how this might be done, but it will probably mean simply recording each service's performance over the period between posts. Details of individual winners, unless outstanding, may have to be sacrificed.

You know, judging by the last couple of weeks you might not think it, but generally speaking, I have quite a straightforward life...


Today's Action

Frankly today was crap and I don't have the inclination to go into the detail.

Northern Monkey: Staked 1pt, -1pt.
Chasemaster: Staked 0.75pts, -0.484pts.
On The Nose: Staked 2pts, -2pts.
ProBandit: Staked 3pts, -1.577pts.
PJA NH: Staked 4pts, -3.344pts.
Total financial loss on the racing of £219.03.

Thursday 14th April: Staked £305, -£219.03.
Week to date: Staked £1,207.50, -£226.69.
Month to date: Staked £6,824.50, -£1,343.13, roi -19.68%.


Right. Next post I'm hoping will be Sunday night but events may overtake me, so possibly Monday.

Thanks for listening.